#these are or are from genus of frogs
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Bishop Heket! What are the names of every single one of your children?
Heket: I could not possibly list all of them, but I can certainly give you some of them.
Stefanie, Aubria, Tobias, Adela, Kuri, Bufo, Atelopus, Rana, Litoria, Hyla, Mantella, Chiri, Pelos, Odo and Mina.
Litorius, Mantelle, Pelosia and Minos are some alternatives I have used.
#Heket answers#casually lists all the names I've used so far#and some I haven't#these are or are from genus of frogs#one is also a Star Trek character
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Random muppet portrait #7
#randommuppetportraits#not super familiar with the animal show#but running into a realistic toad amongt the more familiar muppet frogs struck me as pretty fun#and upon investigation that isn't a slur it is evidently a genus of toads#so that's a relief#i kind of just drew a cartoon frog#definitely feeling more comfortable with the brush#this one was far enough from the usual muppety abstraction that it intimidated me out of starting a couple times#...bufo deez
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PÉNITENCE Un baiser á la Capucine. Ecole de Médecine. Grisettes et Etudians. designed by J. J. Grandville and lithographed by Auguste Desperret. Paris, France, ca. 1834
#I think the english translation of the caption is:#PENANCE A kiss to the Nasturtium. School of Medicine. Grisettes and Students.#Nasturtium is a common name for a genus of flowering plants called Tropaeolum#Grisette is a word for a working class french woman that was used from the late 17th to early 20th century#but the meaning changed over time#The 1835 edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française defined grisette as a young working woman who is coquettish and flirtatious#I've also read that in the mid 19th century a grisette was a young independent french woman#who liked intellectualism and the arts. and spent time around artists especially of the bohemian subculture in paris#anyways I hope the furries like this one#anthropomorphic animals#giraffes#frogs#roosters#dogs#rabbits#is that a goat and a bear idk#animals#Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville#Grandville#Auguste Desperret#prints#lithographs#lithography#Paris#France#Europe#July Monarchy
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why are you skeptical of the current explaintion for Brachycephalus's landing issues? 👀
Basically, Brachycephalus are the only miniaturised frogs that seem to have these problems, and there are other frogs with equally small vestibular systems that work fine. I have seen tiny Stumpffia jump over a metre and then jump again moments later, which Brachycephalus are apparently incapable of.
Moreover, the behaviour we see in Brachycephalus is not just disorientation, which I think should be accompanied by wild flailing, but more closely resembles the spontaneous myotonic stiffening that occurs in fainting goats. Compare:
We also know that the entire otic capsule of Brachycephalus is, to use the scientific terminology, fucked, leading to the seemingly impossible but apparently confirmed consequence that they cannot hear their own calls. This is dramatically different from most if not all other miniaturised frogs.
So basically, I think Brachycephalus are a special case, and that the current explanation that supposes that the fluid of the semicircular canals cannot travel fast enough to allow orientation, is at best genus-specific and not miniaturisation-determined, and at worst simply wrong. Hence, I have a grant application seeking to test it in other miniaturised frogs. It has been rejected before, so I am not holding my breath, but it would be nice to be able to look into this.
#brachycephalus#frogs#movement#animals#minaiturisation#apparently this does not hurt the goats#but yikes#I guess a content warning is appropriate but I am not sure which one
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Bright-eyed Frog (Boophis viridis), family Mantellidae, Madagascar
In 2001, this genus was moved from the family Rhacophoridae to the Mantellidae.
photograph by Artur Tomaszek - Inglourious Reptiles
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These Salamanders Steal Genes and Can Have up to Five Extra Sets of Chromosomes
Unisexual salamanders in the genus Ambystoma appear to be the only creatures in the world that reproduce the way they do. Researchers know how, but the why is still being figured out.
Katy Greenwald: These are all pond breeding salamanders. They are really abundant in the Great Lakes. They are gene thieves. They're stealing DNA from other species. It is known as kleptogenesis. They are usually just called the unisexual complex or the unisexual Ambystoma. They are not a species, actually, because they break all the rules of what a species should be able to do. They are a really unique lineage. As far as we know there is nothing else in the world that reproduces in this way. They are five or six million year old group of animals. As a biologist, you learn all these rules and intro bio and then you learn about these things that just break the rules. In the water, the males will produce sperm at offers, which are little sperm packets that they sort of put down on on leaves and sticks and things like that in the pond. And the females will pick those up internally in their cloaca and there's internal fertilization, and then they'll lay fertilized eggs, which will develop into larvae just like tadpoles do in frogs. And these unisex rules will be in the same ponds at the same time as these normal sexually reproducing species. And they will actually pick up the sperm at offers that are produced by the males of the other species that just triggers egg development. So their eggs are laid and they develop, but they don't actually include any of the males genetic material and they produce offspring that just have the same DNA as the mom. But a smaller proportion of the time they actually do add the males genomes, and so then the offspring come out with extra chromosomes. So they can have anywhere from two to five full sets of chromosomes from up to five different species. And these salamanders seem to have the benefits of asexuality in that they're all female. Their populations can grow really fast, but they have this mechanism to add additional genetic variation that they're able to grab from these species that they coexist with. If there's one thing that we learn from studying biodiversity, it's that there is amazing variation in nature. There are all kinds of species reproducing in all kinds of ways, using all kinds of different approaches. And I think that's something we could certainly learn from in human society, that valuing and celebrating that diversity is a great part of being a biologist...
via: https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/these-salamanders-steal-genes-and-can-have-up-to-five-extra-sets-of-chromosomes
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Okay. This is a pretty big deal in the world of mycology. Historically fungi have been divided up into either parasites that siphon resources from plants, mutualists that cooperate with them, or saprotrophs that break down decaying organic matter (plant and otherwise.) The genus in question, Mycena, has traditionally been made of saprotrophic species feeding on decaying wood.
However, what scientists are observing is Mycena fungi displaying primitive mutualistic behaviors, specifically providing living plants with nitrogen and getting carbon in return from a living partner, or getting to chow down on the plant's remains once deceased. This shows a significant level of adaptability that hasn't been observed in fungi beforehand, though given how much we don't know about fungi there's a good possibility this isn't an unprecedented event.
It doesn't surprise me one bit that we're seeing this in Mycena. These fungi are especially opportunistic; in fact, that mushroom growing out of a frog's skin that we saw a while back was also a Mycena species. Perhaps we need to add bonnet mushrooms to raccoons, dandelions, and other hardy generalists as symbols of scrappy survival in spite of environmental pressures.
#Mycena#bonnet mushrooms#mushrooms#mushroom#fungi#fungus#mycelium#mycology#botany#biology#nature#science#scicomm#evolution#environment#ecology#mutualism#mycorrhizal fungi
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The Galaxy Frog.
Photo by @moni.mehaboob IG
Melanobatrachus is a genus of narrow-mouthed frogs in the family Microhylidae. It is the only remaining genus in the monotypic subfamily Melanobatrachinae. It contains a single species, Melanobatrachus indicus, also known as the Indian black microhylid frog and Malabar black narrow-mouthed frog. It is endemic to wet evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of India. It has been recorded from Anaimalai, Munnar, Palni hills, Periyar Tiger Reserve and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve wikipedia
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Wet Beast Wednesday: giant salamanders
Everyone knows salamanders, right? The little lizard frogs that show up around ponds. Well what if I told you that not all salamanders are little. In fact, some species can get quite large, but none get bigger than the aptly-named giant salamanders. I'm not just talking about any big newt, I'm talking about the unique members of the family Cryptobranchidae.
(Image: a Chinese giant salamander. It is a large, lizard-shaped animal with brown skin and black blotches. Its limbs are short and its tail is flattened to look like a long fin. It has wrinkly folds of skin along the side. End ID)
There are three(ish) species of giant salamander in two genera: the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders of the genus Andrias and the hellbender of genus Cryptobranchus. The name Cryptobranchidae means "hidden gills", which is appropriate as giant salamanders are unique in that they are the only salamanders who reaming fully aquatic as adults without retaining external gills into adulthood. All salamanders are aquatic as juveniles and have external gills and many groups have independently evolved to remain fully aquatic as adults. However, other species, from axolotls to olms, adapted by retaining their external gills as adults, a trait called neoteny. Giant salamanders have had to find another way, especially since a body as large as their needs quite a bit of oxygen. Their solution was to take a common amphibian trait and turn it up to 11. It is common among amphibians to be able to absorb dissolved oxygen in water through their skin. This is usually a supplement to either gills or lungs, but giant salamanders use it as their main means of respiration. The skin is thin and filled with small veins that can perform gas exchange with the water. Giant salamanders evolved very wrinkly skin flaps along ther sides to increase the amount of surface area available for gas exchange, allowing them to sustain themselves. They do require access to running water with a high oxygen content, as still or low-oxygen water doesn't provide enough oxygen to survive. They do have lungs, but use them more for buoyancy control than breathing.
(Image: a man holding/bear higging a giant salamander. The salamander is longer than his torso, not including the tail. end ID)
The Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders are very closely related to each other and rather similar in physiology and behavior. There's also not just one Chinese salamander. Genetic testing has reveals that what was once called Andrias davidianus is actually a species complex. This is when what was thought to be one species turns out to actually be a group of related species. There is some debate over whether the five identified populations of Chinese giant salamander should be classified as subspecies or their own species, though the latter interpretation seems to be the most popular. All the populations are very similar and can interbreed with each other, so I'll discuss them as a group. The largest of the group (and world's largest amphibian) is the South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi) which can reach 1.8 m (5.9 ft) and 50 kg (110 lbs), but adults average 1.15 m (3.8 ft) and 25-30 kg (55-66 lbs). The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) reaches a slightly smaller maximum size of 1.5 m (5 ft) and 25 kg (55 lbs), with most being smaller. The Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders are closely related enough that they can hybridize.
(Image: a Japanese giant salamander resting on mossy rocks underwater. Its body is light brown with darker blotches and the head is covered in nodules. End ID)
Because of how closely related the Japanese and Chinese salamanders are, their biology and behavior are quite similar. They are mostly a dark brown color, but can also be other tones of brown, reddish, or black. The eyes are lidless, small, and poorly-developed, giving the salamanders poor eyesight. Their primary sense comes from the lateral line, a line of hair cells that extends down the body and sense movement of the water. Using the lateral line, the salamanders can sense the movement of prey and threats in the water around them. They utilize suction feeding, slowly approaching prey, then rapidly opening the mouth to generate a vacuum and suck food into the mouth. The prey is then killed or incapacitated with a powerful bite. The esophagus is lined with powerful muscles and uses mucus as lubricant to allow the salamander to swallow large prey. The head and throat have nodules on them, the arrangement and number of which can be used to differentiate Chinese and Japanese salamanders. Both groups of salamander can secrete a strong-smelling, milky white substance to ward off predators. A low metabolism and generally low activity level allows the salamanders to last of up to a few years between meals. The Chinese salamanders can make vocalizations including barks, hisses, and sounds very similar to the crying of a human baby. The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is smaller than it's Asian relatives, reaching a length of 30-74 cm (12-29 in) and up to 2.2 kg (5 lbs). They are usually brown or reddish-brown, but can also have a gray, yellowish, or black coloration. Hellbender biology and ecology is fairly similar to that of their relatives.
(Image: a hellbender underwater. It looks like the other two species, but is smaller, lighter brown, and has no nodules on the head. End ID)
Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders live in cool, clear streams and rivers in the Yangtze river basin (Chinese) and the islands of Honshou, Kyushu, and Shikoku (Japan). Hellbenders live in similar treams in the eastern United states, with one population (which may be a subspecies) living in the Ozarks region. As predators, their diets include worms, fish, crayfish, freshwater crabs, other amphibians, and small mammals. They are also cannibals and will opportunistically feed on smaller members of their own species. All species are territorial animals that will attempt to drive others out of their territory, though hellbenders are less territorial than the other species. Hellbenders prefer to live in cavities dug out under rocks, which helps them shelter from predators. Due to their low metabolisms, giant salamanders live much longer than most amphibians. Captive individuals have been recorded living for 60 years (Chinese), 52 years (Japanese), and 25 years (hellbender). All species are nocturnal.
(Image: a hellbender emerging from beneath a rock with a crayfish in its mouth. End ID)
Mating occurs seasonally, triggered by warmer water in the summer. During this period, males will search for ideal nesting sites, leaving their territories if necessary. An idea nesting site is sheltered beneath a rock. There are often fewer nesting sites than males, meaning only the largest and strongest males will be able to claim nests. Males then use courtship displays to woo females. Alternatively, male hellbenders will chase passing females into the nests and refuse to let them leave until they mate. Unlike most salamanders, giant salamanders practice external reproduction, where the female lays eggs and then the male fertilizes them. The male then guards the nest until the eggs hatch. During this period, he will keep the nest and eggs clean and use his tail to keep water moving over them. Males will eat eggs that are unfertilized, unhealthy, or show signs of infection. This helps keep the other eggs as healthy as possible. The offspring are born with external gills, which they will lose as they mature. It can take several years for the larvae to reach maturity.
(Image: a group of giant salamander larvae in captivity. They look like smaller versions of the adults, but with feathery gills emerging from each side of the neck. End ID)
Both hellbenders and Japanese giant salamanders are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, while Chinese giant salamanders are critically endangered. Their primary threats are habitat loss as streams are dammed, dry up, or become polluted. Warming water temperatures also threaten them. Chinese giant salamanders have experienced a major drop in population since the 1950s. In addition to habitat loss, Chinese giant salamanders are also eaten by humans. While hunting wild specimens is now illegal in China, they are heavily impacted by poaching. The fine for poaching giant salamanders is pathetically small compared to the sale price for one of them, further encouraging poachers. Captive breeding and release programs have shown some success, but may have contributed to the spread of disease. In response to the rarity of the salamanders, a new farming industry has sprung up in, raising giant salamanders for food. The captive population of Chinese giant salamanders in farms vastly exceeds the estimated wild population. Chinese giant salamanders have also been introduced to Japan, where they have been hybridizing with the Japanese salamanders, a major hindrance to conservation efforts. Japanese giant salamanders have been legally protected since 1951. The origin of the name hellbender is unknown. Other names for hellbenders include the water dog, Allegheny alligator, grampus, snot otter, and (my personal favorite) lasagna lizard.
(Image: a holding pen in a Chinese giant salamander farm. Over a dozen salamanders are sitting in a shallow water enclosure stocked with bricks and small fish. End ID)
I will leave this post off with a weird fact. In 1726, a Swiss physician named Johann Jakob Schuechzer declared a fossil giant salamander to be the remains of an ancient human who died in the mythical flood of Noah's ark and named it Homo diluvi, meaning "man who witnessed the deluge". In 1812, paleontologist Georges Cuvier examined the fossil and realized (probably very quickly) that it definitely wasn't a human. Once the fossil was identified as a salamander it was given the name Andrias scheuchzeri. As Andrias means "image of man", both the genus and species names acknowledge Schuechzer's weird idea.
Behold: a man (Image: the original Andrias scheuchzeri fossil that Schuechzer thought as a human. It is a front half of the skeleton of what is clearly a lizard-shaped animal and not a human. End ID)
#wet beast wednesday#giant salamander#chinese giant salamander#japanese giant salamander#hellbenders#salamander#amphibian#Johann Jakob Schuechzer bashing#biology#ecology#zoology#animal facts#informative#educational#image described
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A frog has been spotted in the wilds of Karnataka in southwest India sporting a truly sassy accoutrement. In what has to be the most goblin thing that ever goblined, scientists have recorded for the first time a living amphibian from whose skin had sprouted a mushroom. The frog? A Rao's Intermediate Golden-backed Frog (Hylarana intermedia). The mushroom? A Bonnet Mushroom (of the genus Mycena). The pairing? Truly iconic.
Continue Reading.
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Words related to Spring
to include in your next poem/story
Bloodroot - a plant (Sanguinaria canadensis) of the poppy family having a red root and sap and bearing a solitary lobed leaf and white flower in early spring.
Bluebonnet - either of two low-growing annual lupines (Lupinus subcarnosus or L. texensis) of Texas with silky foliage and blue flowers.
Coltsfoot - a perennial composite herb (Tussilago farfara) with yellow flower heads appearing before the leaves.
Crocus - any of a genus (Crocus) of herbs of the iris family developing from corms and having solitary long-tubed flowers and slender linear leaves.
Magnolia - any of a genus (Magnolia of the family Magnoliaceae, the magnolia family) of American and Asian shrubs and trees with entire evergreen or deciduous leaves and usually showy white, yellow, rose, or purple flowers usually appearing in early spring.
Morel - any of several edible fungi (genus Morchella, especially M. esculenta) having a conical cap with a highly pitted surface.
Mourning cloak - a blackish-brown nymphalid butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) that has a broad yellow border on the wings and is found in temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and North America.
Skunk cabbage - any of several early-blooming perennial herbs of the arum family that occur in shaded, wet to swampy areas and have a fetid odor suggestive of a skunk.
Spring peeper - a small brown tree frog (Pseudacris crucifer synonym Hyla crucifer) of the eastern U.S. and Canada that has a shrill piping call and breeds in ponds and streams in the spring. They are often just called peepers start singing on some of the earliest warm spring nights, ushering in the season with an evocative chorus. While they are highly successful in permanent ponds, they also utilize temporary, ephemeral ponds that appear briefly in the spring due to rain and snowmelt.
Tulip - any of a genus (Tulipa) of Eurasian bulbous herbs of the lily family that have linear or broadly lanceolate leaves and are widely grown for their showy flowers.
If any of these words make it into your poem/story, please tag me. Or leave a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!
Word Lists: Summer ⚜ Autumn ⚜ More: Word Lists
#writing prompt#spring#writeblr#nature#writers on tumblr#poetry#poets on tumblr#spilled ink#literature#lit#words#langblr#studyblr#word list
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31 and 42 for Bond or Q please 💜
31. If they had a tumblr what would it look like?
Q: A comprehensive list of 'tech doesn't work like that!!' moments from mainstream media, along with EXHAUSTIVE explanations of why this particular Hollywood scene is TOTALLY impossible/implausible.
Bond: ~Vibes~. Aesthetic blogger. Artsy shots of different locations around the world. Nature pictures. Beautiful sunsets and birds soaring majestically over the ocean. Zero text.
42. 3 comfort items
Q:
-A threadbare stuffed cat that he's had since childhood. Shh. Don't tell! Bond only gets to meet this cat after they've been dating for like six months, and Q preemptively tells Bond that if he makes any jokes about it, he (Bond) will be exiled to the couch for the next 6-8 business weeks.
-Some type of leaf collection Q made as a child. It was probably a school project. Students were asked to collect like 20 different leaves, press them, and label them. Q did 100 different types of leaves, and wrote detailed descriptions underneath about the genus, the tree's role in their biome, etc. etc. He put sooo much effort into it. Too much, probably. The teacher was like, "Haha, maybe calm down a little? Meanwhile, I probably need to speak to the headmaster about skipping you ahead a few more grades??" The other kids probably made fun of Q for being a tryhard. Q didn't care! He loved collecting those leaves and making his little booklet!! He's still proud of it!!
-A photo album containing pictures of every pet he's ever had. Per my animal-rescuer-Q headcanons, he's had at least 15. Most have since passed on to the other side, but Q still treasures his memories and pages through the photo album very often.
Bonus: A postcard Bond sent him once, ages ago. He'd been flirting with Q outrageously, right before heading off on a mission. Q rolled his eyes and firmly turned him down. Bond pouted. Q cited regulations. Bond argued that life was short (especially his!) and Q was being really dumb by refusing to let Bond take him to bed, just because of some nonsensical MI6 rules. Q argued that insults to his intelligence were not the most compelling prelude to a seduction he'd ever heard, and for heaven's sake, hadn't Bond ever considered poetry? Bond made a joke about blunt instruments (wink wink!) and said he didn't know any poetry anyway. He went off on his mission. But a week after he left, Q got a postcard from Bond. It was a painting of a huge, glorious sun. On the back, Bond had copied out some verses (including the last few lines!) from To His Coy Mistress.
Bond:
-An old arithmetic textbook published in the 1940s. It belonged to his father, and he used it to teach tiny!James math. Bond can still smell his father's cologne whenever he so much as looks at that book.
-His father's straight razor.
-His oldest and most decrepit pullover which is soooo comfy and broken in exactly right.
Bonus: A tiny origami frog. Once, Bond woke up in Medical (horribly injured and after being unconscious for nearly 24 hours) and found Q sitting beside his bed. Q had turned to origami to self-soothe, and he had feverishly created a menagerie of tiny animals while he sat vigil at Bond's bedside. Q quickly swept all the animals away when he saw Bond was awake, but Bond stole one. He keeps it safely tucked away in his flat (even though he'd like to carry it with him as a talisman), just for the reminder that somebody cares about him enough to sit at his bedside.
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Prancing Peacock Spiders
Maratus volans is perhaps the most widely known member of the genus Maratus, also known as peacock spiders-- part of the jumping spider family-- which contains 108 recognised species. Maratus volans is common across Australia and the island of Tasmania, and occur in a variety of habitats. They are most commonly found among leaf litter and dry vegetation, especially in dunes, grasslands, and sparse deciduous forests.
Peacock spiders like M. volans are extraordinarily small; both sexes only reach about 5 mm (0.19 in) in length. Members of the Maratus genus are famous for the male’s coloration, and M. volans is no exception; the abdomen is covered in brightly colored microscopic scales or modified hair which they can unfold for mating displays. Some males can also change the color of their scales, and the hairs can reflect both visible and ultraviolet light. Female M. volans lack this distinctive coloration, and are a drab grayish brown.
Reproduction for M. volans occurs in the spring, from August to December. During this period, males will approach females and raise their patterned abdomens and third pair of legs for display. He then approaches, vibrating the fan-like tail, and dances from side to side. If a female is receptive, he then mounts her; if not, she may attempt to attack and feed on him. This may also occur post-copulation. In December, the female creates a nest in a warm hollow in the ground where she lays her eggs. Each cluch contains between 6 and 15 eggs, though females typically lay several clutches. Male M. volans hatch the following August, while females typically hatch in September. Both sexes mature quickly and typically only live about a year.
Like other jumping spiders, peacock spiders like M. volans do not weave webs. Instead, they hunt during the day time using their highly developed eyesight. These spiders are also able to jump over 40 times their body length, which allows them to pounce on unsuspecting prey like flies, moths, ants, crickets, and other, much larger spiders. Other spiders are also common predators of M. volans, as well as wasps, birds, frogs, and lizards.
Conservation status: None of the Maratus species have been evaluated by the IUCN. However, it is generally accepted that they are threatened by habitat destruction, like many other insects.
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Photos
Jurgen Otto 2 & 3
#maratus volans#Araneae#Salticidae#peacock spiders#jumping spiders#spiders#arachnids#arthropods#scrubland#scrubland arthropods#grasslands#grassland arthropods#deciduous forests#deciduous forest arthropods#oceania#australia#zoology#biology#animal facts
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Are you familiar with this frog?
Yeah pretty sure that's Larry from down the pub. 'Ullo, Larry!
But in all seriousness, I'm afraid I cannot help without location information. Orientation within Bufonidae without location is a nightmare. If this is Africa, we're talking genus Sclerophrys. If it's the USA, it's probably Anaxyrus. If it's Europe, it's probably Bufo. If it's South America we're in Rhinella territory. And so on, and so forth.
#toad#Bufonidae#probably Anaxyrus based on user bias of the hellsite#but even then getting further to ID is really hard without moderately precise location data#please do not dox yourself for frog ID though#but do share on iNaturalist if you want more reliable and also faster identifications#answers by Mark#broomfrog
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I just remembered spoonbills
so instead of googling them I’m gonna ask my favorite animal poster if they have any cool facts abt em :)
SPOONBILLS
If you're from the Americas (where I live), you might think there is only one species of spoonbill, the Roseate Spoonbill, but there are actually 6 species, all in the genus Platalea.
Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor)
African Spoonbill (Platalea alba)
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes)
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
Spoonbills are in the same family along with the ibises, Threskiornithidae.
The common name of course comes from the spatulate (spoon shaped) bill, which they sweep, partly open, through the water to catch insects, crustaceans, and small fishes and frogs.
Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja), family Threskiornithidae, order Pelicaniformes, Smith Oaks Bird Sanctuary, High Island, TX, USA
photograph by Rose Poole
The Roseate Spoonbill is the most colorful of the spoonbills, and the only one that is pink. This pink and red coloration, a carotenoid pigment called canthaxanthin, comes from small crustaceans that are a large part of their diet (like flamingos).
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), family Threskiornithidae, order Pelicaniformes, Hillsborough, Florida, USA
photograph by Peter Hawrylyshyn
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia), family Threskiornithidae, order Pelicaniformes, Sydney, Australia
photograph by Michael Daley
Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucocorodia), family Threskiornithidae, order Pelicaniformes, Germany
photograph by Andreas Trepte
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A spectacular new species of Hyloscirtus (Anura: Hylidae) from the Cordillera de Los Llanganates in the eastern Andes of Ecuador
Juan P. Reyes-Puig, Darwin Recalde, Fausto Recalde, Claudia Koch, Juan M. Guayasamin, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, Lou Jost, Mario H. Yánez-Muñoz
Abstract
We have discovered a spectacular new species of frog in the genus Hyloscirtus, belonging to the H. larinopygion species group. The adult female is characterized by a mostly black body with large bright red spots on the dorsal and ventral surface, extremities, and toe pads. The adult male is unknown. Small juveniles are characterized by a yellow body with variable black markings on the flanks; while one larger juvenile displayed irregular orange or yellow marks on a black background color, with light orange or yellow toe pads. Additional distinctive external morphological features such as cloacal ornamentation are described, and some osteological details are imaged and analyzed. The performed phylogeny places the new species as the sister to a clade consisting of ten taxa, all of which are part of the H. larinopygion group. We use genetic distances to fit the new species into a published time-calibrated phylogeny of this group; our analysis based on the published chronology suggests that the divergence of the new species from its known congeners pre-dates the Quaternary period. The new species is currently only known only from Cerro Mayordomo, in Fundación EcoMinga´s Machay Reserve, at 2,900 m in the eastern Andes of Tungurahua province, Ecuador, near the southern edge of Los Llanganates National Park, but its real distribution may be larger.
Read the paper here: A spectacular new species of Hyloscirtus (Anura: Hylidae) from the Cordillera de Los Llanganates in the eastern Andes of Ecuador [PeerJ]
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